Prompt: "If we get caught-"
"I'll make it worth your while- promise."
Lily scuffed her shoe against the stone floor as they patrolled the northern corridor. Potter had been awfully quiet. Normally he talked a mile a minute, but today he'd barely said two words to her and he kept checking his watch.
"If you have somewhere you need to be, I can finish up by myself," she told him, trying to keep her voice neutral. But really, he was Head Boy. He should be prioritizing his patrols over running off to snog some girl in a broom closet!
"No, I'm good," he said, still looking distracted, "just making sure I've got the time right."
She let the weak excuse go, and turned the corner to make her way down to the Charms corridor.
"Hey, Evans. I was wondering if we could cut patrol short tonight–"
"Yeah, yeah," she dismissed him with a wave of her hand, trying to clamp down on the bitter ache that had started in her chest, "Go on, go find whatever bint you're snogging these days."
He looked slightly hurt. "No, actually I wanted to show you something."
"We have to finish patrols."
"Come on, Evans. You can slack off on one patrol. The castle won't crumble to dust if we don't check up on the transfiguration corridor."
She weighed her options mentally.
"I promise you won't regret it," he cajoled.
"Fine," she said with a sharp exhale, "But if we get caught–"
"I'll make it worth your while. I promise."
He took her by the hand, practically dragging her along, until they reached the stairs to the astronomy tower.
"No, Potter. No way," she said, forcefully shaking off his grip on her hand, "I'm not skiving off patrol to go snog you on the Astronomy Tower!"
"That's not why I brought you here!" he protested, looking at his watch again. "Hurry up, we don't want to miss it!" With that, he grabbed her by the hand again, pulling her with him as he raced up the stairs.
They reached the top of the stairs and he threw the door open, leading them to the open balcony where Professor Sinistra taught class. Pillows were scattered about, and a large blanket sat in the middle with a few candles around. She raised an eyebrow at Potter. It certainly looked like he'd brought her up here just for a quick snog. She opened her mouth to tell him off and take her leave, but the excited look on his face stopped her. He looked like an excited kid on christmas, showing off their new toy, not like a teenage boy attempting to lure girls off to snog them silly. Though from what she'd heard, James Potter was a pretty good snog– where had that thought come from? She shook her head to clear it, and followed him as he sat in the middle of the blankets. He checked his watch again, then leaned over to blow out the candles.
"What–"
"Shh," he cut her off, "just watch." He gestured up at the night sky, laying on his back and staring up.
Lily followed his lead, leaning back until she was flat on her back to look to the night sky. It was nice, but utterly normal. She was just about to sit up and tell him off, when a streak of light illuminated the sky. Then came another, then another, and soon the sky was full of dazzling streaks of light, like angels falling to Earth. The sky took on an almost violet hue, and Lily watched– awestruck, as the streaks of light slowly faded, and the night sky returned to its normal inky color.
"Potter– was that…" she couldn't finish her sentence for the sudden lump in her throat.
"The Andromedids," he supplied, "Meteor shower associated with Biela's Comet. Suspected by witches and wizards to have some magical properties, since it turns the sky violet. And hasn't been seen since the 1600's."
"But… How?"
"I remembered you mentioned in class that it was your favorite astrological event, especially since there hasn't been recorded mention of it occurring since. I talked to my dad, who is close friends with this world renowned cosmologist; and according to him, The Andromedids was due to reappear this year. Now, his colleagues disagreed with him, based on something about the trajectory, but he was utterly convinced. So, I thought, what's the harm? Worst case scenario, we see a lovely starry night, and you think I just tricked you up here to snog you…."
He continued speaking, but she couldn't hear him over the pounding of her heart in her ears. He'd remembered an off-hand comment she'd made about her homework, looked up the event she was talking about, and tracked down a world famous cosmologist to inqire as to when it would be around again. All so she could experience, first hand, the beautiful shower from Biela's Comet. Before she could overthink it, she shifted to her side and took his face in her palms. She pressed a kiss to his lips, letting herself linger for a moment, before pulling back and resuming her position next to him on the blanket.
"Thank you, James," she whispered, taking his hand in hers. He said nothing, but she saw, out of the corner of her eye, as he opened and closed his mouth searching for a response. After a moment, "You're welcome, Lily," he whispered back, as if testing her name on his tongue– and she couldn't help the delicious warmth that spread through her at hearing the way his mouth caressed her name.
Basically nothing about the astrological event is correct. I literally just found a name of a meteor shower and a comet- and needed one to be her favorite!
If you'd like to know any real facts about it, I just used info from this Wikipedia page: wiki/Andromedids